


Gilded Cage

by shiranuikai



Category: Pro Wrestling NOAH, Professional Wrestling, 新日本プロレス | New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Genre: Alcohol, Anger, Angst, Complicated Relationships, Drunk Confrontations, Jealousy, Kissing, M/M, break ups, messy relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27886747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiranuikai/pseuds/shiranuikai
Summary: Naomichi Marufuji comes to terms with KENTA leaving NOAH.
Relationships: Hideo Itami | KENTA/Marufuji Naomichi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	Gilded Cage

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place right after KENTA's last match with NOAH, 5/17/14. I plan on writing a fair bit more of MaruKEN from many stages of their careers. I'll eventually string them together in chronological order. Enjoy!

Korakuen was never this quiet. At least not in Naomichi Marufuji’s memory, and he had spent more years than he could recall in and out of that hallowed venue at all hours of the day and night. Tonight felt different, of that he was certain. The hallways seemed impossibly smaller, the ceilings in the back even lower, the lights dimmer, and the 52 year old building was silent. It was like Korakuen itself knew the loss it had just been dealt, that a giant of their sport was gone. Not passed away, not retired, but _leaving_. Just leaving. Leaving for a new country, a new promotion, new venues. Maru didn’t know why that felt just as heartbreaking and final as either of the former, but in this case it did.

He took another pull straight from a wine bottle he had lifted from Takashi Sugiura after their tag match and replaced it on the bench beside him. _From fans_ , he had said, holding up two bottles that Maru could tell from the labels were not cheap. They weren’t for him, obvious given the circumstances, but he took them anyway. He expected Sugiura to say something, but he hadn’t, only watched Maru retreat back into the locker room alone holding both bottles by their necks. 

It was the expression on Sugiura’s face that annoyed him the most, how he had smiled too knowingly, almost sympathetically, like he was trying to convey something poignant to Maru without words. He shook his head to clear it and took another long swig, nearing the end of the bottle, hoping the alcohol would catch up to him and do something to improve his mood. _Kenta doesn't need them anyway. They’ll be buying him drinks all night._ The thought did nothing to assuage the pangs of guilt he felt as he polished the wine off.

Every time he closed his eyes, he thought of the way Kenta looked lying on his back in the ring after their tag match against Sugiura and Katsuhiko Nakajima earlier that evening, his last match in NOAH before he moved on to his new home. Certainly tired, undoubtedly emotional, but something else, something that was haunting Maru as he used a small, flimsy key chain bottle opener to uncork the unopened wine. 

Kenta had looked _beautiful_. It felt like an obvious and almost childish observation to make because it was something that Maru had already thought of him for years, but something had changed tonight. It was the way he looked when he opened his eyes for the first time after the pin and really gazed at Maru as he bent to touch his face… he looked relieved. And when Kenta stood up and bowed to the fans, one bow for each side of the ring, he seemed free. _Free_. That word burned Maru and made him feel like the locker room walls in Korakuen Hall were closing in on him.

He knew he should stop drinking, take his gear off, and shower, but his body ached as if he had just come off an impossibly long tournament. Every limb felt like it was filled with sand, and he wondered if that was the alcohol or the exhaustion of the last few weeks catching up with him. After Kenta had told him he was truly leaving, every day had been filled with planning for the future of NOAH without him. With organizing press conferences, this final match, interviews, all of the things expected of him in his duties for the company that had been left in his care. Kenta had been respectful but quite obviously elated throughout the entire process. 

It hurt Maru deeply, and he hated admitting that, even to himself. They hadn’t once spoken about what it would mean for them either. _Them_. A contentious topic that never failed to put them at odds even under the best of circumstances, but Maru had waited expectantly for Kenta to address things first and he hadn’t. Every time they had been able to steal a few hours, maybe less, alone together Maru thought that surely he'd say something now. Kenta just smiled, like he was happy. Maru’s eyes started to sting, so he took another drink.

A knock on the door of the locker room startled him and his thigh brushed against the finished bottle of wine, sending it onto the floor with a clatter. He could tell from the cadence of the knock who it might be, though he really hoped that Sugiura had been smart enough to try to intervene in sending _him_ , of all people, to retrieve Maru from the bowels of Korakuen.

“Yeah. Come in.” he called out weakly.

The door was pushed open and Kenta peered around the door frame at him in confusion before fully stepping inside. He was freshly showered, his dark, thick hair still slightly damp, and dressed in street clothes, the kind he’d wear when the plan was to convene at a bar. Maru could smell his cologne from where he stood and it filled him with a sudden feeling of longing that was quickly replaced by annoyance. Kenta bent and picked up the empty wine bottle that had rolled away, checked the label, and then looked up at Maru curiously. “Are you celebrating?”

Maru nodded, far too enthusiastically, and raised his fresh wine bottle to Kenta. “Celebrating you, as a matter of fact. To your good health.” Maru took a long draw from the bottle and wiped his lips on the back of his hand when he was finished, his head swimming. “Don’t get buried.”

Kenta stood motionless for a few moments, regarding Maru carefully, before he dropped the wine bottle in a nearby trash can. The bottle shattered where it hit the very bottom of the can, the bag already having been taken away hours ago, but neither man flinched. Kenta closed the gap between them and sat next to Maru on the bench, his gaze raking Maru’s face, searching for something. Maru cleared his throat and made himself busy reading the label on the wine bottle still clenched tightly in his hand.

“Everyone is in the hotel bar, waiting.” Kenta said eventually, his voice even. “I want you to be there with us.”

Maru shook his head quickly, still avoiding his eyes. “Don’t feel well. You can all go on without me.”

Kenta shifted closer to him and pushed some of his long, dark hair out of his eyes, tucking the strands behind his ear. His touch made Maru wince, but Kenta didn’t seem to notice. “You don’t think you’re being dramatic because you’ve already drank two bottles of wine on your own?”

Maru made a face and took another sip to spite him. “I can hold my liquor.”

“Then stop being ridiculous, get showered, and let’s go have fun with everyone else.”

Maru shook his head but didn’t respond, setting the bottle down between his feet instead. Kenta scooted over on the bench until their thighs were touching. He cupped Maru’s cheek and gently lifted his face, forcing Maru’s gaze up to meet his own. They were meters apart and he knew he must reek of alcohol, but Kenta didn’t appear to mind. Kenta leaned in, his eyes fluttering shut, and kissed Maru gently, his thumb stroking the side of his face where he held him. Maru felt himself flush, but whether it was from the contact or the wine, he couldn’t be sure.

“Is this what you want?” Kenta asked softly between delicate kisses that set Maru’s nerve endings on fire. “We can make an excuse, go back to the hotel, stay in… or stay here. It’s just us.”

 _Just us_. Maru tilted his head to deepen the kiss and felt Kenta slide his hand into his hair, gripping just hard enough to make him groan. Kenta brought his free hand up Maru’s bare side in response, his nails lightly raking his skin, nipping at Maru’s lower lip with his teeth. At any other time together, this would have been bliss, but something felt wrong. It wasn’t something tangible, but he could feel it in his gut, more of that change that had permeated the air in Korakuen since the day had begun. There was a finality in the way Kenta kissed him, and even if he were imagining that, or suddenly too drunk to see it any other way, there was still truth in the realization. This would be some of the very last moments they would share together before Kenta left, before he was _free_ , before the latch on Maru’s gilded cage closed and he was truly alone for the first time in his life.

Maru pushed Kenta back abruptly and lurched away from the bench, knocking over the remaining bottle of wine in the process. It spilled out onto the tile floor, and Kenta shied away from the liquid, staring at him with an open mouth.

“Michi-san, what the-”

“Kenta, just leave!” Maru shouted, searching around for a towel to clean the spill with. “Everyone is waiting for you.”

Kenta laughed without a trace of humor, his face suddenly dark. “They’re not waiting for me. They’re waiting for you… they’re always waiting for you.”

Maru snatched a towel that had been left behind from on top of a locker and dropped it over the wine, stepping on it with his boot. “Yeah? Well, whose fault is that?” 

Their eyes locked and they stared at each other for several beats, Kenta’s face contorting, and Maru thought for a few wild seconds that Kenta might get up and punch him. He felt he might like the pain of that, the release a real fist fight would give him. “Doesn’t matter anymore anyway," Maru continued. "you won’t have to worry about it when you move to Florida.” 

Kenta stood up suddenly and brought himself eye-level with Maru, who braced for the hit, but it didn't come. “I want to hear you say it.” Kenta said, his voice poisonous.

“Say what?”

“That you’re not happy for me… that you wish it was you.”

Kenta might as well have thrown a punch. Maru’s insides twisted as his words washed over him and he could feel color rushing to his face and chest. _It’s true. I wish it were me_. The shame made him feel sick, but he wouldn't give Kenta the satisfaction. 

“Some of us have actual responsibilities, Kenta,” Maru spit back at him. “people who rely on them. I know you don't have a clue what that’s like.” He angrily fished the towel up from the floor and threw it past Kenta, in the direction of the trash can. “So go ahead, _leave_ , and forget all of this. Like I said, don’t get buried.”

Kenta leaned in, challenging him, but Maru didn’t move. “Fuck _you_ , Naomichi.” Kenta hissed. “Jealousy has always looked pathetic on you.” He turned swiftly and stormed out of the locker room, the door banging shut behind him.

Maru found himself panting, almost gasping for breath like he had just run miles without stopping. He could only remember one other time in his life when he felt this way, and he screwed his eyes shut and willed himself to breathe normally, to stop the panic rising in his chest. He felt truly alone, like a small child abandoned in a store, for the first time in five years. There was something in him, a small, wailing voice, that knew this was the last time he would hear from Kenta for a very long time, maybe at all. He was not prepared for the absence of him, the dissonance that would come after. When he finally stripped his gear off and sat at the bottom of the shower, letting the hot water sluice down his back, he let himself go.

\------

Maru caught up with Sugiura at a bar down the street from their hotel. As he sat at an empty barstool next to him, he noticed most of the NOAH roster laughing and carrying on over what looked like an intense game of darts, which BRAVE appeared to be winning. Sugiura gave him the same look as before, that knowing one, and poured him a glass of whiskey from a large bottle. “You look like shit, Michi-san.”

“Thanks.” he replied tonelessly, accepting the glass and drinking it down without preamble. When he replaced the glass on the bar, he swiveled in his seat and looked around. “So, where is he?”

Sugiura shrugged. “No idea. He didn’t come back from Korakuen… we thought he was with you.”

Maru chewed his lip and said nothing. Sugiura clapped him on the back and stood, picking up their empty glasses and the bottle of whiskey. “We should watch them finish this dart game.”

Maru let Sugiura steer him toward the rest of the roster, but not before he cast a look over his shoulder at the front door of the bar. It didn’t open. Kenta wasn’t there. Kenta wasn't coming. Kenta was gone. Maru wondered how often he would need to repeat that like a mantra, almost like prayer, until it sunk in.


End file.
